What is the treatment for a pharyngeal pouch?
The traditional treatment for pharyngeal pouch involves open surgery to the neck. Open diverticulectomy involves complete removal of the pouch. Alternatively, the muscle responsible for pouch formation may be divided (sometimes combined with inversion or invagination of the pouch).
How do I get rid of Zenker’s diverticulum?
Endoscopic cricopharyngeal myotomy (diverticulotomy) has become a primary and important means of treatment of Zenker’s diverticulum. This procedure involves cutting the tight UES muscle and the party wall between the esophagus and the pouch to eliminate the obstruction.
What causes pharyngeal pouches?
A pharyngeal pouch, also known as Zenker’s diverticulum, is where the wall of the oesophagus at the lower pharynx, just above the sphincter, balloons out under pressure. This out-pouching may be caused by uncoordinated swallowing or a problem with the way the cricopharyngeus muscle contracts and relaxes.
How is pharyngeal pouch diagnosed?
To diagnose pharyngeal pouch your consultant may order special tests or procedures such as a diagnostic endoscopy or an x-ray using liquid barium to highlight the pouch. In some cases your consultant may recommend surgery to remove the pouch.
What does a pharyngeal pouch look like?
A pharyngeal pouch (also called Zenker’s diverticulum) is a small bulge or pocket, like a hernia, that occurs in the pharynx. The term ‘pharyngeal’ refers to the pharynx, the part of your throat that connects the mouth, nose and oesophagus – it runs from behind your nose through to the bottom of your neck.
What is a pharyngeal pouch?
A pharyngeal pouch or Zenkers Diverticulum is an outpouching of the pharynx at the level of the larynx (voice Box). Pouches occur in older people and are the result of fibrosis of a band of muscle at the top of the oesophagus callled cricopharyngeus.
How common is a pharyngeal pouch?
Pharyngeal pouch is an uncommon condition that usually affects more elderly patients (70 years and older). If left untreated, the pouch becomes larger and the symptoms worsen. Symptoms could be present for weeks or even years.
What kind of doctor treats Zenker’s diverticulum?
If you have any of the symptoms mentioned here, you should be examined by an ENT (ear, nose, and throat) specialist, or otolaryngologist. Your ENT specialist may diagnose your condition using a “barium swallow” study.
What does pharyngeal pouch mean?
Medical Definition of pharyngeal pouch : any of a series of evaginations of ectoderm on either side of the pharynx that meet the corresponding external furrows and give rise to the branchial clefts of the vertebrate embryo.
Where are pharyngeal pouches found?
The pharyngeal pouches are endodermal-lined pockets that form on the INSIDE of the pharynx between the arches; pouch 1 forms between arch 1 and arch 2, pouch 2 forms between arch 2 and arch 3, etc.
Is pharyngeal pouch normal?